If ever there was a time to consider your lighting strategy it would be now. Arguably the hottest topic at the moment, and for good reason, the Climate Crisis we face is here. Taking care of the environment we call ours is a responsibility we should all prioritise. There are everyday practices most of us follow already, recycling, public transport, reducing single use plastic. Looking beyond these strategies most people are unaware of the technologies that can be adopted to help reduce your carbon emissions, LED lightingis one of these.
 
LED lighting has numerous environmental benefits as we outline below. 
 
Energy Efficiency
LED lighting is up to 80% more efficient than other forms of commercial and household lighting. 95% of the energy LED’s draw is converted into light with the remaining 5% converted and wasted as heat. Looking at Fluorescents, this is the exact opposite. 95% of the energy drawn by fluoros is wasted in heat with only 5% of the energy used for lighting. The amount of power drawn from LEDs is significantly lower too. To emit the same level of lighting, you can replace a typical 84-watt fluorescent with a 36-watt LED. The higher efficiency in energy and the lower power drawn reduces the requirement from power plants, reducing emissions. 
 
Removal of Toxic Substances
LEDs contain no toxic substances. Fluorescents that are commonly used in commercial environments contain not only the poisonous and harmful metal mercury; they contain Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) which are carcinogens that can be found in the ballasts. 
 
Around 91% of all fluorescent lights are crushed into landfills. When you consider that New Zealand dumps approximately 5.5 million lights a year, making the potential for approximately 500kg of mercury to be dumped into NZ landfills per year*. When fluorescent lights are broken, the mercury they contain can vaporize and contaminate the soils and leach into our water supply. Our NZ landfills are working to mitigate the leaching with over half installing an engineered lining to collect leachate and over 75% of the landfills have processes in place to collect any contaminated substances leaching into the water supply. However this toxic chemical is still making it into our landfills. 
 
Reduction of Methylmercury
Methylmercury is a highly toxic agent. In nature, methylmercury forms in aquatic systems when anaerobic organisms (organisms that don’t need oxygen) feed on it. Unfortunately, landfills often imitate the same conditions so when fluorescent globes are dumped the mercury converts into methylmercury. The result can be concentrations of methylmercury in our environment up to 100 times the normal levels (as was the case with a landfill in Florida). Methylmercury is a bioaccumulate, which means it builds up in our food chain, and is most commonly ingested by eating fish. 
 
Methylmercury is also created when coal is combusted to generate energy, as outlined above LED’s use far less energy than its competitors, therefore, reducing the need to burn as much coal at power plants.  
 
Fewer lights required
LEDs, as compared to fluorescent lights, have better distribution and focus of light. Some lighting alternatives waste energy by lighting areas of the room that aren’t required, like the ceiling. This results in fewer LED lights required to achieve the same level of illumination produced by the alternatives. This again reduces your energy consumption benefitting the environment. 
 
Increased life span
LEDs last 625% longer than fluorescents, depending on your usage they can last 10-12 years before they need changing. This life span has a knock-on-effect as fewer recourses are required to continually manufacture lighting, also reducing packaging and transportation resources.

*this is based on 46mg of mercury per light. Depending on the size and age of a fluorescent lamp mercury levels can vary from 2mg to 46mg per lamp. Newer fluorescent lamps contain around 2-6mg of mercury  

How EEL can help
 
Eco Efficient Lighting (EEL) is a LED lighting specialist company that provides you with a subscription-based service that instantly reduces your energy costs, improves your workplace performance and contributes to a greener world. EEL is passionate about creating a user-friendly holistic service that lives with a conscious responsibility to our environment.
 
We recycle ALL fluorescent tubes we remove from your buildings. 
EEL removes all your old, outdated fluorescent lights and ensures they are broken down and recycled appropriately. The toxic chemicals are removed and disposed of. If we recycle New Zealand’s 71 million fluorescent light bulbs, we not only assist in preventing mercury-pollution, but we also save 13,000 tonnes of glass, 500 tonnes of aluminium, 400 tonnes of other metals and 300 tonnes of phosphor powder.
 
Zero Waste
We are a zero waste company which means we are working towards and committing to producing less waste. We prioritise reduction, recycling and reusing. We have a long term strategy in place to combat and control the rise in waste. Click the link hereto read more. 
 
We are also a member of the Sustainable Business Network to read about that click here. In addition, T8LED adheres to the requirements of the European Union’s Directive 2002/95/EC on the restriction of hazardous substances (RoHS), which impacts all electronics industries and many electrical product manufacturers. This standard restricts the use of specific hazardous materials found in electricity related products including mercury. 
 
For more information on us or to schedule a free consultation, please contact Hamish Coney today.

LED lighting has numerous benefits for day care centres, reducing energy consumption and therefore reducing energy costs, removing harmful contaminants from the room and mitigating the risk of these contaminants affecting our children. Along with these incredible benefits are psychological and learning benefits for our children. LED lighting can improve a child’s focus and concentration, aid in relaxation and help level a child’s mood and behaviour. 
 
Colour Temperature
As discussed in our blog on lighting quality, colour temperature also helps the mental health of our children. Cooler colour temperatures, that are achieved though installing LED’s, help children wake and be more alert earlier in the morning and focus on, and comprehend tasks and learning, as the light closely mirrors a natural outdoor light. This cooler temperature can also support mental cognition. 
 
Light Levels
As we see with LED colour temperatures, the light levels LED’s emit is also important to look at. Spending too much time in a dark or dim lit room has a negative impact on our mood. Commonly known as the ‘winter blues’ is it proven that during winter months, when we aren’t exposed to as much sunlight, we experience sluggish moods and can lead to feelings of depression. Reinforcing the importance of installing a lighting system that best emulates natural sunlight for our children. Are brighter more natural light can increase and encourage happier moods. Low lighting can also affect the way children receive, store and send information to the brain. The dim lighting makes it harder for children to read therefore increasing the possibility of sending incorrect information to the brain. 
 
Recent studies on the effects of lighting that simulates daylight has proven this increase in concentration, with some children amongst the studies noticing a difference in their own mood. The study found lighting that mimicked natural outdoor lighting provided the same stimulation in children as when they are actually outdoors. It is commonly understood that natural outdoor daylight improves mood, mental cognition, alertness and focus and decreases sadness, stress and anxiety. 
 
Productive Learning
Effective LED lighting can increase the efficiency of a child’s ability to learn, thus increasing the productive learning environment as a whole. As discussed above, lighting colour and temperature impacts a child’s visual skills which is directly related to their ability to learn. The stability of LED lighting means children can move about the room without any changes in light quality reducing visual interruptions. 
 
There are many areas of a child’s day at day care that can affect their learning environment and experience, noise, timetable, sleep schedules and more. Lighting is an aspect of their day and environment that can be easily controlled to enhance their learning and experiences. 
 
Lighting affects so many areas of our lives, the way we sleep, the way we feel, how we are motivated and our ability to concentrate. These reasons outline why it is vital to consider your lighting plan and systems in your day care centre. 

Eco Efficient Lighting (EEL) is a LED lighting specialist company that provides you with a subscription-based service that instantly reduces your energy costs, improves your workplace performance and contributes to a greener world. EEL is passionate about creating a user-friendly holistic service that lives with a conscious responsibility to our environment.
 
Fully managed service:
We provide a fully managed lighting service: delivering you with lighting installation while, managing and maintaining your new LED lights.
 
Superior lighting:
LED lighting is a far superior, more natural light, akin to natural daylight. Research suggests it increases employee motivation, improved concentration, enhanced energy levels and reduced incidence of eye strain. 
 
Greener world:
EEL will safely and sustainably recycle your old fluorescent tubes, removing the toxic metals and glass from the workplace and reducing the potential to contaminate the surrounding environment. 
 
For more information on us or to schedule a free consultation, please contact Hamish Coney today.

LED has numerous benefits to your day-care centre and is more akin to natural daylight. Research suggests LED offers a far superior light quality, as discussed below:
 
Instantaneous turn on and off
The way fluorescent lights are designed means they take time to warm when they turn on, they produce a sub-visible flicker and glare. LED lighting has instantaneous turn on and off with no degradation in the age of the light with a high number of switching on and off. Fluorescent lights life span is significantly reduced as a consequence of frequent switching.
 
Glare
LED’s don’t produce any glare into your rooms, mitigating children and your employees need to squint or blink repetitively. Fluorescent lights require an anti-glare whilst LED’s do not. Glare can bother children in two ways - by creating discomfort glare where the glare causes an irritating sensation with the desire to look away from the light and disability glare which is caused by straylight or scatter light in the eye reducing visibility. Harsh glare has been proved to cause eyestrain and headaches.  
 
Flicker
The sub-visible flicker produced by the fluorescent light has been known to agitate children with autism. The flicker can be a trigger for children with autism, it can also cause an increase in repetitive behaviour. The ballast required in the fluorescent light can also produce an audible hum or buzz, further irritating not only children with autism, but all children and your employees too. The flicker and hum have been linked to causing headaches and migraines in both children and employees. 

Cool lighting temperatures
Lighting colour temperatures are also something to consider and that affect the health of children at your day-care centre. Cooler coloured lights (4100-5000 Kelvin, natural daylight sits around 5000k) have been linked to the improvement of children who struggle to concentrate or who are slightly hyperactive. Cooler light can also improve the behaviour of children who struggle with learning difficulties. Across the day-care centre a general increase in focus, concentration and motivation can be associated with cooler LED lighting. LED lighting has the ability to be designed to achieve any light colour across the visible light spectrum. This makes it ideal as a cool light can be selected for your centre.

Eco Efficient Lighting (EEL) is a LED lighting specialist company that provides you with a subscription-based service that instantly reduces your energy costs, improves your workplace performance and contributes to a greener world. Our unique subscription model means no upfront costs - just the monthly subscription cost over the contract. We guarantee it will instantly save you over 50% on your power bill, with the cost to us paid monthly out of the savings you make. We call this paying less for power and getting better lighting for free. In addition, the subscription model allows EEL to offer you a monthly flat rate fee which helps you accurately forecast your budget. EEL is passionate about creating a user-friendly holistic service that lives with a conscious responsibility to our environment.
 
Fully managed service:
We provide a fully managed lighting service: delivering you with lighting installation while, managing and maintaining your new LED lights.
 
Superior lighting:
LED lighting is a far superior, more natural light, akin to natural daylight. Research suggests it increases employee motivation, improved concentration, enhanced energy levels and reduced incidence of eye strain. 

Greener world:
​EEL will safely and sustainably recycle your old fluorescent tubes, removing the toxic metals and glass from the workplace and reducing the potential to contaminate the surrounding environment. 
 
For more information on us or to schedule a free consultation, please contact Hamish Coney today.

Let’s start with - Why do we use fluorescents?
 
The very first mercury vapour lamp (fluorescent light) was patented in 1901 however, the commercial fluorescent tube we see so regularly wasn’t popularised until Post WW2. In the boom of commercialisation, big commercial spaces were attracted to fluorescents for their low cost. Fast forward to 2019 and have the research that proves the negative effects fluorescent lighting can have on our children's health and how LEDs are actually cheaper. The solution? Switch to LED lighting
 
LED vs Fluorescent Lighting
Not only will LED lighting save you money (they reduce power consumption up to 80%) and the planet (less energy consumption is just better for our environment), there are numerous proven health advantages to switching to LED lighting. LED’s are also more eco efficient. Part one of our 3-part series will discuss the harmful metals, carcinogens and UV found in fluorescent lighting that can be easily removed by switching your lighting source to LED.
 
Mercury 
Fluorescent lighting contains the poisonous and harmful metal mercury. When you switch on a fluorescent light, mercury and argon fumes emit photons at UV frequency. This UV light is converted to visible light by a phosphorous coating inside the tube. Mercury is highly toxic and can be especially harmful to the brains of both babies and young children - the reason it was banned from use in thermometers. When a tube shatters the mercury escapes in the form of vapour or a fine powder which has formed on the inside of the glass tube. The vapour can be inhaled into your lungs or through the skin if a contaminated surface is touched. Not to mention the hazards glass from the shattered tube. This, along with the metal, pose a significant hazard to your children.
 
Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)
Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) are carcinogens that are in the magnetic fluorescent ballasts. These PCBs have been linked to the decline in the nervous, immune and endocrine systems. The ballasts don’t need to break or rupture to contaminate, small amounts of PCBs can be emitted during normal use of the light. Children can be exposed to this carcinogen by breathing in or touching contaminated areas with the most common health effect being rashes and acne. Other testing has indicated the potential link to liver damage, nose and lung irritation, gastrointestinal discomfort and depression and fatigue. The effect these PCBs can have on our body is dependent on the concentration of PCB, type and extent of exposure. If these PCBs aren’t disposed of correctly, they also cause great harm to our environment - they do not break down easily and can linger in our environment for years.
 
UV Light
Fluorescent lights, as mentioned, emit UV radiation, the same energy component we get from the Sun. UV is good for producing Vitamin D, however too much exposure to UV radiation is the main cause of melanoma. UV can also damage our eyes, with long lengths of UV exposure linked to cataract formation in the eyes and macular degeneration. 

​Eco Efficient Lighting (EEL) is a LED lighting specialist company that provides you with a subscription-based service that instantly reduces your energy costs, improves your workplace performance and contributes to a greener world. Our unique subscription model means no upfront costs - just the monthly subscription cost over the contract. We guarantee it will instantly save you over 50% on your power bill, with the cost to us paid monthly out of the savings you make. We call this paying less for power and getting better lighting for free. In addition, the subscription model allows EEL to offer you a monthly flat rate fee which helps you accurately forecast your budget. EEL is passionate about creating a user-friendly holistic service that lives with a conscious responsibility to our environment.
 
Fully managed service:
We provide a fully managed lighting service: delivering you with lighting installation while, managing and maintaining your new LED lights.
 
Superior lighting:
LED lighting is a far superior, more natural light, akin to natural daylight. Research suggests it increases employee motivation, improved concentration, enhanced energy levels and reduced incidence of eye strain. 

Greener world:
EEL will safely and sustainably recycle your old fluorescent tubes, removing the toxic metals and glass from the workplace and reducing the potential to contaminate the surrounding environment. 
 
For more information on us or to schedule a free consultation, please contact Hamish Coney today.